Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/89

 make us  understand  by  it,  that  this  disease,  apparently  so  slight, and of  which  they  dread  not  the  danger, — this  lukewarmness,  so common  in  piety,  is  a  disease  which  inevitably  destroys  the  soul, and that  a  miracle  is  necessary  to  rescue  it  from  death.

Yes, my  brethren,  of  all  the  maxims  of  Christian  morality,  there is none  upon  which  experience  allows  us  less  to  deceive  ourselves, than the  one  which  assures  us,  that  contempt  for  the  smallest points of  our  duty  insensibly  leads  us  to  a  transgression  of  the  most essential; and  that  negligence  in  the  ways  of  God,  is  never  far  from a total  loss  of  righteousness. He who  despises  the  smaller  objects of religion,  says  the  Holy  Spirit,  will  gradually  fall:  he  who  despises them,  that  is  to  say,  who  deliberately  violates  them;  who lays down,  as  it  were,  a  plan  of  this  conduct:  for  if,  through  weakness or  surprise,  you  fail  in  them  sometimes,  it  is  the  common  destiny of  the  just,  and  this  discourse  would  no  longer  regard  you; but to  despise  them  in  the  sense  already  mentioned,  which  can  happen only  with  lukewarm  and  unfaithful  souls,  is  a  path  which  must terminate in  the  loss  of  righteousness; — in  the  first  place,  because the special  grace  necessary  toward  perseverance  in  virtue  is  no longer  granted; — secondly,  because  the  passions  are  strengthened which lead  us  on  to  vice; — thirdly,  because  all  the  external  succours of  piety  become  useless.

Let us  investigate  these  three  reflections. They contain  important instructions  in  the  detail  of  a  Christian  life:  useful,  not only to  those  who  make  a  public  profession  of  piety,  but  likewise to  those  who  make  all  virtue  to  consist  in  that  regularity  of conduct  and  propriety  of  behaviour  which  even  the  world  requires.

Part I. — It  is  a  truth  of  salvation,  says  a  holy  father,  that  the innocence of  even  the  most  upright  has  occasion  for  the  continual assistance of  grace. Man, delivered  up  to  sin  by  the  wickedness of his  nature,  no  longer  finds  in  himself  but  principles  of  error and sources  of  corruption:  righteousness  and  truth,  originally  born with us,  are  now  become  as  strangers;  all  our  inclinations,  revolted against  God  and  his  law  in  spite  of  ourselves,  drag  us  on toward  illicit  objects;  insomuch,  that,  to  return  to  the  law,  and submit our  heart  to  order,  it  is  necessary  to  resist,  without  ceasing, the impressions  of  the  senses;  to  break  our  warmest  inclinations, and to  harden  ourselves  continually  against  ourselves. There is  no duty  but  what  now  costs  us  something;  no  precept  in  the  law  but combats some  of  our  passions;  no  step  in  the  paths  of  God  against which our  heart  does  not  revolt.

To this  load  of  corruption,  which  renders  duty  so  difficult  and irksome, and  iniquity  so  natural,  add  the  snares  which  surround  us, the examples  which  entice  us,  the  objects  which  effeminate  us,  the occasions which  surprise  us,  the  compliances  which  weaken  us,  the afflictions which  discourage  us,  the  properties  which  corrupt  us,  the situations which  blind  us,  and  the  contradictions  which  we  experience;  every  thing  around  us  is  indeed  only  one  continued  temptation. I speak  not  of  the  miseries  which  are  natural  to  us,  or  the